The Muda dilemma

SOME people in Muda will perhaps take offence at these words, but perhaps a few others may accept a sincere invitation to indulge (with no strings attached) in some food for thought.

I think, at the end of the day, the dilemmas and problems that Muda faces stem from the fact that right from its inception, there might have been a lack of a clear differentiating factor between Muda and other political parties.

I remember the excitement and the energy of the early days of Muda.

“Young” was the great watchword of the day, along with all its connotations of being some sort of shot of adrenaline that would be a huge game changer in Malaysian politics.

No one would be more excited for a true gamechanger to shake up Malaysian politics than me.

The rub of it is, it’s going to take more than putting a bunch of bright young Malaysians together into a political party to achieve that.

There is a lot of pre-existing, deep set political culture in Malaysia.

Think of it as grooves in the ground. Every time it rains, the water always flows through these same grooves. And the more water that flows through over the years, the deeper the grooves get.

There is absolutely no shortage of Malaysians who want the water to flow through different grooves, instead of the same ones which always seem to result in destructive floods again and again.

I know plenty in Muda want exactly that as well. But wishing alone will not make it so.

After the decision was taken to go their own way in these six state elections, Muda started going to considerable lengths to point out the many faults in the unity government - something it had not done extensively or in a high profile way before.

This is another example of how political posturing defines a party’s ideology, rather than the other way around.

If you are a party supporting the government, then everything the government does is good.

If you are a party competing against the governing parties, then everything the government does is bad.

This state of affairs has been a particular challenge for Muda.

They are aware that the only seats in which they stand a good chance of being recognised, much less winning, are urban seats.

In competing in these seats, it seems Muda took the approach of going all out to "attack" anything and anyone related to the unity government.

The latter responded in kind.

Former friends, in public at least, turned on one another. Hurtful, disparaging words were exchanged in both directions.

The end result? Instead of changing the game, it looks like we're back right into the thickest part of that same old familiar game: politicians, many of them smart Malaysians who'd have so much to offer by working together, are instead at each other's throats.

Without a more clearly thought out long-term plan, Muda’s primary dilemma is:

Do you accept whatever PH ultimately decides to bestow upon you out of what generosity they may or may not possess? Or are you truly willing to go to three (or more) corners all the way?

This is the question that, in my opinion, any serious alternative to mainstream politics must have a crystal clear answer to, right from the outset.

Muda has now tried both. And having tried the second option, is it an option to go back to the first?

At this juncture, a party like Muda will find itself face to face with the question of its raison d’etre - its reason for existing.

If Muda has mostly been built only on early adrenalin, excitement, and the admirable passion of its members alone, then it may be the beginning of the end for them.

The simplest way to illustrate this point more clearly is to compare Muda to its most recent electoral partner: Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM).

Some have expressed their perplexity with PSM’s quixotic quest to joust at electoral windmills again and again, even though the windmills seem to win every single time (except of course, when PSM members run in the same coalition as PH).

Most of the mainstream political parties thus have NGO "arms" that help serve political goals.

It occurred to me that PSM is really more like an NGO that has a political party arm that helps to serve its NGO goals.

What this means is - and I feel I can verify this through considerable personal experience - that PSM members seem to care more about helping the poor, than they do about winning elections.

Whatever their political fortunes, PSM activists show up every day, to champion the cause of the downtrodden.

They do this because this is their core belief. This is why they are here.

Why is Muda here?

I admire how Muda decided to make a solid attempt at channeling their frustration into action.

The thought process seems to have been: I don’t like where Vehicle A is going; I don’t like where Vehicle B is going; I’m going to make Vehicle C take me where I believe we should go.

The problem is, unless you make a concerted effort to design Vehicle C in such a way which makes its engine unmistakably distinct and different from vehicles A and B, you will find your vehicle drifting off in exactly the same direction as vehicles A and B.

So how can Muda move forward?

One can look at the recent losses in the six state elections as an opportunity to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Perhaps with what has happened, people who are in the party only as "elections tourists" or people looking for an ego boost will fade away, given the unlikelihood of them getting what they want from the experience.

Perhaps the only ones left will be those who carry a spirit similar to those PSM hardcore loyalists - people who see themselves as having a higher purpose, whether faced with defeat or victory.

Just as PSM focuses on community service and defending the downtrodden, Muda needs to find its own calling - one that extends beyond politicking in the same way Malaysians have always politicked, and one which serves a higher purpose in the community.

If they can do this, and truly set up structures and cultures that are a clear departure from business as usual, then they have a chance of becoming a more permanent presence in the Malaysian political landscape.

If this is the path they seek to be on, no one will be more excited than me to help.

NATHANIEL TAN is a strategic communications consultant. He can be reached at [e-mail].